A Teenager's ramblings

Sir Alex

Thursday, March 6, 2014

If you are indeed a cricket lover, one thing you can’t deny is the
joy one experiences when the players are sent on a leather hunt by an
aesthetic willow wielder. When both “aesthetic” and “willow” comes to
your mind, even the most dumbest minds in the planet (who are aware of
cricket) will think about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
Such is the aura of the man that he is almost revered in India and
most respected in the cricketing fraternity. Growing up as a kid, we
watched Sachin treat the bowlers with disdain, dish out punishment to
the likes of Shane Warne, Muthiah Muralitharan and Glenn McGrath who
were considered to be the best in business. Nobody can watch Sachin in
his prime and not fall in love with his batting. If you doubt me, I dare
you to watch the Sharjah Cup in 1998, I dare you to watch how he took
Shane Warne apart. Warne admits he had nightmares about Sachin dancing
down the pitch and hitting him over his head over the boundary. This
comes from a man who made batsmen unsure and unsafe at the batting
crease. The 90s saw Tendulkar stand tall over some really tough
challenges against Shane Warne, Saqlain Mushtaq and Muthiah
Muralitharan. His foot movement could best be described as a silky dance
down to connect the willow with the leather. The straight batted drive
and the loft over the bowlers’ head will go down memory lane!! During
these special tons his strike rate was well above 80 runs per 100 balls.
It would be a cliché if I say Sachin is the best modern day batsmen
ever!!!!!!
My earliest memory of Sachin Tendulkar remains as the man who was the
only Indian batsman to torment bowling attacks. In that Indian line up
only one man could consistently scorch magnificence. To an extent,
Mohammed Azharuddin made his presence felt with some eloquent flicks.
You just need to watch Sachin play a magnificent straight drive down the
ground, and you know you are in for a “Tendlya” special. His statistics
are a proof of his greatness. How else do you explain 18000 runs in
ODIs and 15000 in tests. It is truly mind boggling!!!!!!! His longevity
is another testimony to his greatness. He still retains his hunger and
passion for cricket even after 22 years since he embarked on a historic
journey at Karachi in 1989.
Tendulkar’s ability to play more than 2 strokes for any delivery at
any point of time in the game was one of the reasons to help him score
runs freely than his peers. One of my favorite moments was best
described by John Wright who was then the coach of the team in his book,
Indian Summers. It was the big India-Pakistan game in the 2003 World
Cup. He goes on to say, “As our openers walked down the long flight of
stairs to begin the chase, Viru told Sachin, ‘Don’t say anything to me
about my batting except “go and lagaao”’ – basically, go for it. Sachin
replied, ‘I’m going to get these guys.’ Such was his intent and nobody
could forget that match winning 98. When you grow up to such a player in
a cricket loving nation, you are expected to be his greatest fan. I am
proud to say I am one of them.
Tendulkar at his very best, is a free scoring colossus who vanquishes
all he comes up against. To say the least he carried the team on his
shoulders in the 90s singlehandedly. Sachin evinces a romantic love for
cricket and more for his batting in all who watch him. For an instance,
during the 2007-2008 tour of Australia, an Australian cricket fan came
to see Sachin with his son. He had named his son “Sachin” being an
ardent fan of the master blaster.
When the inevitable retirement happened, a lot of cricket fans,
especially in India have not experienced cricket as it once was.
Certainly in my case. My romantic tryst with cricket came to an end with
the end of the Tendlya era. is an oft repeated cliché “Form is
temporary, Class is permanent”. Though Sachin retired, we still yearn
for the “Tendlya” magic that made cricket so special again and again.
“Enjoy the game and chase your dreams, because dreams do come true”,
he says after his monumental 100th ton. His biggest dream that came
true, he says was India’s world cup triumph. That shows the man’s
selfless nature, often portrayed otherwise by some naïve media persons.
The words of Peter Roebuck, who was a renowned sports columnist -
“On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the
stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was
nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials,
everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This
Genius can stop time in India!!”
What BBC comprehends about Sachin–Beneath the helmet, under that unruly
curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don’t know,
something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar,
to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted
enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to
bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.
That is as close to the truth as it gets. I am proud to have had a chance to grow up watching Sachin bat.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

George Best – Revered at Old Trafford, envied by other
clubs, admired by players, fancied by the fans. One of the Holy Trinity at Manchester United,
Best- described by Bob Bishop as a genius- has shaped and been part of the
glorious history of Manchester United.
His playing days came to an end before I was born, but the legend of
George Best has endured the test of time. I have tried to watch the limited
videos of him playing that was available and I have never been more fascinated
by any player. Undoubtedly he was one of the best at that time, though I believe
he was the best. For, such is the way people talk about his game that you can
feel he was the greatest. He himself had
the confidence (or arrogance as some might perceive it) to say in an interview,
“I actually think I was the greatest player of all time, I just didn’t play
long enough at the top”!!!! Sadly for a
career that started at 17 and peaked at 22 came to a low at around 28 when he
left United, leave everyone wondering “What
might have been” had he not succumbed to alcohol. The fact that he never
fulfilled his genius is a scary thought considering how much he achieved
without doing so. But such was his character that he never had any regrets
about his career. As he himself put it in the same interview, “I was lucky I
had 11 great years. It was 11 more than lot of others ever had!!!”.

Football’s first ever Superstar, “El Beatle”( nicknamed so
by the Portuguese press when he singlehandedly destroyed Benfica in the
European Cup) was a phenomenon who along with Sir Bobby and Denis Law gave
United some glorious memories and infinite joy.
With a regret that I never lived in his era, I dedicate this to George
Best, the Genius from Belfast !!!! This
weekend marks 50 years since you made your first ever appearance for Manchester
United.

As they all say, Pele good, Maradona better, George BEST
!!!!!!!!!!!! Indeed……..

Thursday, September 5, 2013

This is a little anecdote from my ... ahem .... "innocent" childhood days !!!!!!!!!!! Those were the days when you looked forward to being left alone in the house while your parents went out into town. I used to relish such occasions. Being 10 years old, i was never allowed to experiment with delicate appliances at home, a rule i promptly disregard on such momentous occasions.
I learnt my basic lessons in cooking during these glorious "free hours" ( like if you mix tomato juice in an omelette, the taste is an unpleasant sourness...... the taste of grape juice with seeds crushed in....and some other experiments i would rather not talk about ... :D ). Not just cooking, i took these opportunities to satisfy my curiosity which more often than not landed me in some tight spots.
Anyway, on one such occasion i was very preoccupied with helpline numbers. 100 - police. 101 - Fire Force. That was pretty much it, but to a 10 year old me, the avenues were endless!!!!!!!! It was around 8pm in the night and i wanted to know if these helpline nos were real ??? How can u call the fire force with just dialing 101 ?? I mused........ Our home phone nos was around 7 digits. So did 3 digit nos really work??? Or were the films i saw fooling me ??? The questions were endless, but the answers were a dial-of-the-phone away. I thought like whom to call ? The Police or the Fire Force ?? .......... Police are always a terrifying thought, especially to a 10 year old boy... I decided to go with Fire Force. The lesser of the two evils !!!!!!!
Well.. i picked up the receiver and before i dialled 101, took a deep breath and reminded myself to put on an adult voice. I was READY ...................... ----1-0-1---- ..... beep beep beep..... and it started ringing , i almost stopped breathing !!!!!!!! What the hell ??? So they werent lying... I was aroused from this musing by a husky powerful voice announcing "Fire Force... What can we do for you?" ... I was stunned... I regained my composure.. or whatever that remained.. My heart was going THUMP THUMP THUMP !!!!!!! I put on my adult voice.. and boldly spoke into the receiver : "There is a fire here" .... and the man asks "Give me your address" ... I could not give him my address..so (still in my adult voice ) i gave him the address of a nearby street. "How did the fire start??" Pat comes the next question and i'm caught unawares.. I stammer "TV caught fire"..He asks me "Where??" ... and i stutter "Right side of the TV" . He says OK and hangs up. I am relieved to get off the phone and so did not pause to worry about the logical nature of my answers.
I congratulate myself for having verified the existence of 101 and i sit silently hoping to hear the siren of the fire trucks arriving at a nearby street. "Trring Trring" goes my phone and disturbs my patient wait for the trucks. Thinking its my parents just checking whether i'm all right or not, i pick up the phone. Alas.... instead of my dad's voice, a deep husky voice, terrifyingly familiar greets me. I am panic stricken... my heart goes into overdrive !!!!! I stutter and stammer to his questions of a fire being reported.... I reverted to my trusted and most effective defence... Blindly deny everything..... The officer just calmly accepts my version, but goes on to inform me of the existence of a device known as "Caller ID" which i'm sure everyone knows of !!!!!! He further informs me of police action for such pranks, still accepting my high pitched denials... He hangs the phone up with an ominous warning which took all life out of ME !!!!!!!!!!
Suddenly i find myself in a terrifying house, all alone with thoughts only of a new, but vicious instrument called Caller ID that entraps inocent young boys like me. To cut the story short, I panicked big time... Called up my aunt nearby... asked her to come to me as i was too scared... she called my parents.. they were terrified... It was a FIASCO !!!!!! But more importantly, they did not find out about the incident that threw Caller ID's into my world !!!!!! That was the day i discovered Caller IDs. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Actually what i was thinking when i posted this was that "i was feeling sleepy".God knows how i wanted to just plop down on my bed......but what to do.....bcoz i creatd this blog i decided to continue....11 30 in da night...that too on the evening of Thiruvonam....with my mom watching a mohan lal movie ....n me writin a boring blog........feelin sleepy ....sleepy......n sleeepyyyyyyyyy.......

Iam playing in the theatre of dreamz.........n that too against arch rivals "Liverpool"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This had to be a dream...........oops......sorry....dont mind this line..carry on...

The game has started and within 20 minutes we r 2 goals down ... Torres n Gerrard score....We r staring down da barrell.....At Half time...Sir Alex says Ashwin..U r our only hope......Can u b'lieve it...SAF..tellin me i am his only hope.....Oh....i've been dreaming about this for eternity...oops again......

65th minute: Anderson sends a through ball n berba scores with a low drive past Reina..........I cant b'lieve it..though the set up didnt involve me....i jump on berba....n he emerges coughin n spittin.........I guess ma 85 Kgs told on him.........i mutter an apology n get on with da game...its not often that one plays at Old Trafford...

71st minute: I recover da ball from our half n gallop down da middle......or atleast i thought it was galloping......well , atleat i didnt loose da ball..but defenders were about to take me down.....gulp....but Tevez appears out of nowhere..n v play a 1-2......n i jus have da goal keeper in front of me....but da defenders catch up....( says a lot about my gallop)...well to cut it short ..the kind hearted Ref....(Was it Kindness or Pity)..awards me a Penalty.....

Wow...a penalty at Old Tafford....n me takin that..i picture myself in the Head lines 2moro......"An Indian Prodigy Wins it for United"...........i step up for the Penalty......Here's my moment.....this is what i've been waiting for....the Crowd was cheering..so were my Team mates.......n Tevez was running towards me to wish me best.....n i turned to say to him...Thank u mate...but he tells me....."You've split your trousers..down da middle...u had better change it..."